Commissioner Kitty Jung said commissioners are concerned that the business-license fee should help cover to cost of any financial burden the medical marijuana industry brings to the county.

"We are going to hit every single point to determine what the eventual cost might be," Jung said. "We want to give a good estimate – with legal backing – about what that license should look like and in a way where we are not going to gouge anybody out of business.

"But frankly, good dispensaries don't want us to turn into a 'Cheech and Chong' town," Jung said. "They want these (dispensaries) to be excellent. They want them to work. They don't there to be social consequences of us providing this."

Humke was concerned that Nevada's new medical marijuana laws might lead to elevated rates of driving while impaired.

Hartung noted that during a visit to Colorado – where recreational and medical marijuana are legal – he learned that driving while impaired is more of an issue with recreational pot use than with medicinal use.

A compromise was also reached Tuesday night about hours of operation of the dispensaries.

A Washoe County Sheriff's Office representative, Lt. D. Eric Spratley, asked commissioners not to allow the dispensaries to be open too late.

Any late-night issue at the dispensaries could increase pressure on sheriff deputies since calls for help and services rise as the night wears on.

Eventually, it was decided the dispensaries would be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Spratley said he was not concerned that medical marijuana dispensaries would be havens for crime.

"We don't think there is going to be any challenges with the way this business operates," Spratley said.

"We believe it will be pharmaceutical in nature. It is not going to be some kind of... head-shop type of situation," Spratley said. "We believe this is going to be very professional, professionally run. We believe they will be secure facilities. We believe they will have alarms and cameras and will be a great operation and not take any more of our resources."

How it would work

The ordinances adopted focused on the four major business models for the industry: dispensaries, growing facilities, testing labs and facilities where edible marijuana products are made along with inedible creams and oils.

Dispensaries, where patients with medical marijuana cards can purchase their necessary medicine, will be allow to operate in strip malls, mixed-use areas (near restaurants and office buildings), in commercial parcels zoned for tourism activities such as gaming plus industrial areas.

They would be low-key businesses, where no marijuana products or paraphernalia can be seen from the outside.

Grow houses would only be allowed in industrial areas, shopping centers or strip malls. Grow houses must be enclosed buildings where none of the marijuana odor can be detectable from the outside.

Grow house and facilities that make edible marijuana products also must have a plan to dispose of solid waste, such as stems roots and packaging.

None of the waste products produced in growing or other productions of medical marijuana would be allowed to the tossed in an outside Dumpster.

Businesses that produce edible marijuana will be subject to the same Washoe County health codes as a commercial kitchen.

Medical marijuana patients who now are allowed to grow their own marijuana at home no longer would be allowed to do that, once the dispensaries are open, Spratley said.

The exception to that rule would be if the dispensaries do not carry the strain of marijuana grown by the individual medical-marijuana card holder, Spratley said.

What's next

• The next step will be deciding how much to charge for a county marijuana industry business license.